FIU alum Logan Allen back in his home state

[Kevin Barral]

Starting against the Marlins on Friday for the visiting team, Logan Allen still had his own sort of home-field advantage.

MIAMI, FL—On Friday, Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Logan Allen took on the Miami Marlins. He went six innings, giving up two runs off of four hits, three walks and struck out three. This was his second start against the Marlins, with his first being his major league debut in Cleveland last season. This rematch had plenty of significance as well considering it took place in the state where he was born and raised, minutes away from where he spent his college career.

"It was definitely cool," said Allen. "Had a lot of family and saw some old college teammates. Being back in Florida feels good. Cool being this close to home. Definitely been a lot of fun. It's been a cool experience."

Allen, 25, was born in Altamonte Springs, Florida. He played high school ball in University High School before coming down south to play for Florida International University. With FIU, he would spend three seasons (2018-2020) posting a 3.33 ERA, 12.1 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 1.138 WHIP through 183 ⅔ innings pitched. On top of pitching, Allen was also a utility player for the Panthers. He had a career slash line of .297/.362/.411/.773 with six home runs and 23 RBIs.

His achievements with FIU included all-conference second team and all-freshman team selections as a freshman, all-conference first team in his second season as a utility player, and he would be placed on multiple national award watch lists for both his pitching and hitting.

"Met so many great people, relationships that last a lifetime," said Allen. "I see in here one of our old guys from FIU is one of the MLB compliance guys. Just seeing all the relationships down the road and just begin to talk to those guys is awesome."

One of the reasons Allen chose FIU was because he had the opportunity to be a two-way player. On Friday, the coach that gave him a chance, Mervyl Melendez, was in attendance to watch Allen pitch. Mervyl's son, MJ, played with Allen as little kids and is now a Kansas City Royals outfielder.

"Still got a great relationship with him and MJ too. It's cool every time we get a chance to play against him, but yeah, it definitely cool to have that family back around."

In 2020, Logan Allen became the third-highest draft pick in FIU program history. He was not aware of that until told on Saturday.

"It's actually really cool," said Allen. "Something I definitely take pride in. Developing a lot of good guys that roll through there. Definitely cool to be a part of that group."

This past season, the FIU Panthers made the Conference USA Tournament. Prior to that, they hadn't made the postseason since the 2018 season, when Allen was a freshman. He was happy to see the program back to its winning ways with manager Rich Witten at the helm.

"It's honestly kind of crazy because I feel like every year we always have a good team," said Allen. "We're always putting guys in pro ball, so I guess it shouldn't have been that long since they were last in the conference tournament, but good for them to get back. Witten has definitely rode the ship over there. He's doing a good job. That's gonna lead to a lot of success for them in the future. Hopefully they have a little more success than we did."

This season, Allen has had his highs and lows and he knows it. His ERA (5.57) and FIP (5.49) have risen a lot from his 2023 rookie season while his strikeout rate has dropped from 22.2% to 19.0%. He is averaging less than five innings pitched per start. However, he feels that his start back home certainly was a step in the right direction.

"Just taking it day by day. Even the bad ones feel like it's only one bad game sending me in with the good one. Just keep it rolling. Still trying to put in the work every week."

The next scheduled start for Allen will be on Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Meanwhile, his Guardians teammates will be trying to win their rubber match against the Marlins on Sunday afternoon.

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